1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electric powered vehicle, and more particularly to an electric powered vehicle whose battery is efficiently and removably mountable on the body frame in a limited space thereof.
2. Background of the Invention
In addition to a conventional motorcycle whose drive source is an internal combustion engine, research has been conducted on an electric motorcycle whose drive source is an electric motor. In this vehicle, the electric motor is powered using a battery. In such an electric motorcycle, since the ratio of a battery weight to the total weight of a vehicle body is large, the mounting position of the battery becomes significant. A technology for a scooter-type electric motorcycle where a battery is housed below a step floor thereof is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. Hei 11-255165 and in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. Hei 5-112270.
In the disclosed technology of these references, a battery is housed in a battery case and the battery case is mounted on a vehicle body frame. As a result, the battery case and a fastening tool for fastening this battery case to the vehicle body frame are indispensable components of the vehicle. Accordingly, the number of vehicle parts is increased. Thus, both the manufacturing cost and the number of processes thereof are increased. In addition, the weight of the vehicle body is increased because of the necessity of providing a battery case having sufficient rigidity for mounting a heavy object such as the battery, and the necessity of a rigid connecting member between the case and the vehicle frame. Hence, the increase in vehicle weight provides a technical problem.
An object of the present invention is to solve the above-described disadvantages and problem of the conventional technology, and to provide an electric powered vehicle wherein the number of parts and the weight are not increased relative to a conventionally powered vehicle.